POTOMAC

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Potomac mean? 

• POTOMAC (noun)
  The noun POTOMAC has 2 senses:

1. a river in the east central United States; rises in West Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains and flows eastward, forming the boundary between Maryland and Virginia, to the Chesapeake Bay

2. term sometimes used to refer to Washington, D.C.

  Familiarity information: POTOMAC used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POTOMAC (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A river in the east central United States; rises in West Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains and flows eastward, forming the boundary between Maryland and Virginia, to the Chesapeake Bay

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

Potomac; Potomac River

Instance hypernyms:

river (a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek))

Holonyms ("Potomac" is a part of...):

Free State; Maryland; MD; Md.; Old Line State (a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies)

Old Dominion; Old Dominion State; VA; Va.; Virginia (a state in the eastern United States; one of the original 13 colonies; one of the Confederate States in the American Civil War)

Mountain State; W.V.; West Virginia; WV (a state in east central United States)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Term sometimes used to refer to Washington, D.C.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Instance hypernyms:

American capital; capital of the United States; Washington; Washington D.C. (the capital of the United States in the District of Columbia and a tourist mecca; George Washington commissioned Charles L'Enfant to lay out the city in 1791)

 Context examples 

The area in the United States comprised of a 68 square mile area northeast of the Potomac River donated by the state of Maryland.

(District of Columbia, NCI Thesaurus)